Against All Odds
by AmberMint8
Summary: When Finn Hudson wants something he goes after it, especially when it comes to Rachel Berry. He just wishes it could be easier and that she could remember him as something other than the dumb quarterback from high school.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello Friends! This is a new story that has been stuck in my head for the last few weeks and I'm really, really excited about it. I still have my other story that I assure you I am still working on and I'm hoping that by finally posting this I'll be able to focus on that one again. But anyways, please enjoy this.**

**Disclaimer: Do not own any of the characters from Glee, this is simply for fun!**

* * *

_Beep...beep...beep._

The first thing Rachel registers is the sound of something beeping not too far from where she's at. Scratch that, the first thing she fully registers is the awful headache she has on one side of her head. It hurts so much she doesn't even want to bother trying to get out of bed today. Unfortunately, she has school to attend and being Rachel Berry she knows she has to suck it up.

As she moves to stretch she notices that she felt incredibly stiff. Almost like she hasn't moved for a while. It could have been from that intense workout yesterday, she thinks offhandedly. She moans lightly as she tries to move her arms again, slowly opening her eyes at the same time. What she sees causes her to be wide awake with surprise and confusion.

Instead of seeing the yellow walls of her room and her light pink bedspread she's looking at white colored walls and very pale blue sheets. On the wall across from her bed was a TV set with some baseball game on though she didn't see why because she absolutely hates baseball.

Looking down at her arm she finds that she's hooked up to some wires that are connected to a machine. A heart monitor, the source of the now irritating beeping noise that was making her head hurt even more.

A heart monitor, she comprehends after another second. It's not her alarm clock because she's not in her room. She's in the hospital it seems. Except she doesn't know how she got there. She immediately starts to panic.

It only heightens when movement next to her catches her attention. There's a guy sitting in the chair by her bed fiddling with the television remote as he watches the baseball game. He's clearly oblivious to her being awake at the moment and she gives an involuntarily squeak in surprise when his hand comes up to rest against hers on the bed.

The man who sits in the chair by her bed looks over in shock almost like he didn't believe what he just heard. His amber eyes immediately meet her brown ones and in less than a second his attention is focused solely on her.

"Rachel," the man says in a hushed voice disbelievingly. He blinks a few times and rubs a hand over his obviously tired face before he fully looks at her again. His eyes light up immensely when he realizes she truly is awake.

He seems kinda familiar, like she's seen him before, but she can't think of how she would know him. She eyes him warily as he calls out to a doctor and the nurses to come quickly. She doesn't know what to do but his yelling causes her head to ache even more. She moans as she puts a hand on her temple and he quickly takes notice.

"Oh sorry Rach. I didn't mean to yell. But babe you're finally awake," he says happily as he moves to touch her cheek. She flinches away from him, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Rachel?" He asks concerned reaching out to her again. She just moves further away from him, at least she moves as much as the bed will allow, and she sees the hurt and worry that flashes across his face. "Hey it's alright. Everything's okay you don't need to-". But he doesn't get to finish.

"Who are you?" She asks cutting him off. Her voice is hoarse from disuse and it's still thick with sleep but she manages to whisper the words out.

"Who am I?" He asks stunned pointing to himself. "Rach you can't be serious. You know me."

"No I don't," she insists searching his face trying to figure out where she might have seen him before. He's much older than her that much is obvious since he has some slight stubble on his face. He clearly hasn't shaved for a few days. "You seem familiar but I don't know who you are. Why are you in my room? What's going on? Where are my dads?"

She's getting hysterical now with worry. Why is this total stranger with her and not her dads? Tears start to pool in her eyes and her head still hurts a lot but she tries not to notice as she's too busy trying to make sense of what's happening.

The strange guy looks at her with a broken face and he swallows thickly before he says, "Rachel you've been in a car accident. You're in the hospital in Manhattan, New York. Your dads are trying to get here as fast as they can but its snowing so much that a lot of flights are grounded or cancelled, and the roads are blocked." He pauses for a moment, to collect himself before he says, "You've been unconscious for the last five days."

"What?" She asks not understanding a word that's coming from his mouth. "New York?!"

He's just about to answer when the doctor and nurses come in quickly, immediately pushing him out of the way as they start to check up on her. They ask how she feels and she tells them her head hurts _so much_.

She eyes the man standing by the television set with an anxious expression on his face as he watches her. He's talking to the doctor as the nurses check her vitals and other necessary things. She can hear him voicing his concern to the doctor about how she can't remember him and the doctor gives a nod before he comes over to her. His name tag reads Dr. Johnson.

"Hello Rachel," Dr. Johnson greets her with a smile. She tries to return it with a small one of her own but she's sure it comes out more as a wince. "Welcome back. Do you mind if we run some tests? Ask some questions?"

"I don't mind," she complies, knowing that if anyone can give her answers it'd be the doctor.

And so the testing commences. She passes all the tests just fine. Her health seemingly perfect. It's when the questioning starts that she starts to worry. Dr. Johnson asks her some basic questions like what her name is, when her birthday is, her parents names, etc. As far as Rachel knows she's doing incredibly fine until he asks what year it is and how old she is.

"It's 2009 and I'm only sixteen," she responds with an exasperated sigh. "Which is why I don't understand why I'm in New York without my parents."

The doctor exchanges a concerned glance with the man standing in the room once again. The guy is staring in confusion at her and worry starts to seep in.

"It is 2009 right?" She asks worriedly. She's sure it is. She_ knows_ it is.

"Rachel," Dr. Johnson says carefully. "It's 2013."

She looks blankly at him as he tells her this. 2013? That's insane. "No," she says defiantly.

"Yes it is. And you're nineteen years old, going to be twenty later this year," he says calmly. He grabs the calendar off the wall of the room. She hadn't noticed it before but now that it's placed in front of her, she can clearly read it. It's November 2013.

She starts to cry and shake her head. It's impossible. It can't be right. She looks at the doctor and he gives her a sympathetic look. She knows he's right but she can't wrap her head around the idea.

"Rach, it's okay," the man from before says quietly, coming from his position by the tv to stand by her bedside.

"No don't tell me it's okay!" She shouts at him. She's crying even harder now and he winces at her harsh words. "And who are you? Why are you here?"

His face crumples even further as he looks at her with sad eyes. "My name's Finn," he chokes out. "Finn Hudson."

Finn Hudson? She's heard the name before she knows it. But where? She looks away to try and remember, trying her hardest to figure out why she knows that name.

"Wait a second," she says thinking back, looking at his face fully now. She sees the hope start to rise on his face before its quickly gone as her next words come out. "You're the guy who throws eggs at people aren't you?"

"Well," he starts only to pause, looking down at the bed sheet ashamed.

"Yeah that's where I know you from," she says pointing accusingly at him with hard eyes. "You and your Neanderthal football friends egg me sometimes as I walk home!"

Finn winces at the accusation but otherwise doesn't say anything about it. "Rachel that was a long time ago."

"No it wasn't," she insists harshly.

Oh yeah, she remembers him now. She remembers walking home from the first day of school sophomore year in her favorite blue kitten sweater and black skirt. She'd been humming a song to herself when out of nowhere a car full of football players drove past her and threw eggs. It had gotten all over her and they had laughed as they drove off.

She remembers seeing him in the back seat window, looking at her and watching her as they drove off. She couldn't read the expression on his face at the time because all she could do was cry over her ruined sweater and feel absolutely humiliated while continuing her trek home.

"Rachel that was years ago," he tries again and he looks intently at her. "A lot has changed since then... Especially between us."

She doesn't understand what that's supposed to mean. Between them? He's looking at her with pleading eyes like he's willing her to remember. But what could she possibly even want to remember about him? Sure he was cute, she could admit that much. It's not like they were ever friends though. And there was no way that they could have possibly been...

As she thinks it over she remembers how he had called her 'babe' and so casually went to grab her hand, almost like on instinct. Sudden realization washes over and she gasps.

Oh no. No, no, no. She knows where this is going. It can't possibly be true though. No, not in a million years would it ever happen. No way.

"Rach," Finn says looking at her directly in the eye. The intense emotion she sees in his eyes making her feel very vulnerable. "I'm your boyfriend. We moved out to New York together last year."

* * *

She's sputtering for some kind of response but all she can do is hide her face in her hands. No way. No way this would have ever happened. Rachel Berry wasn't the kind of girl who interacted with a guy like Finn Hudson. And yet there he was standing there looking at her in complete sadness and she had no recollection of them.

Them? Rachel Berry and Finn Hudson. Two people on total opposites of the social ladder at McKinley High. Gosh, what could have possibly happened that would even make them a possibility? She had no clue.

Rachel leaned back onto the pillow of the hospital bed with her hands still covering her face and groaned. It didn't make any sense! How could she have lost about four years of her memory and this turned out to be her life? Finn Hudson as a boyfriend? Who knew what else she had done then in high school. For all she knew she could have befriended someone like... like.. ugh, Santana Lopez. She shuddered at the idea.

"This is crazy," she sighed mostly to herself. She peeked through her fingers to see that Finn was still watching her carefully and sadly. Pulling her hands away she looked pointedly at Dr. Johnson. "There's nothing that can be done about this... this..."

"Amnesia?" He supplied for which she was grateful. She can't say the word aloud. He shook his head slowly giving her a pitiful look. She really hated it. "I'm sorry Ms. Berry but there's not much that is known to work for these kinds of cases."

She closed her eyes disappointedly. "Absolutely nothing?" She asked hoping against hope there was something he could do or recommend.

"I'm sorry," he apologized looking over more papers he had. "You can try to see if you can maybe talk to a therapist but nothing is guaranteed to work. Head injuries that affect the brain are very difficult to overcome."

His words were like a punch to the stomach. _Nothing_. That's what she remembered of the last four years and nothing could be done to bring it back. Tears started to form once again but she tried not to let them spill over.

"It could be a lot worse Ms. Berry," Dr. Johnson pointed out seriously. "You're very lucky considering everything."

She can't help it when the tears start to fall again. She knows it could be a lot worse. But she's so upset with everything at the moment because its all overwhelming.

"He's right Rach," Finn pipes in softly putting his hand on her shoulder and giving it a squeeze. She looks up at him with blank eyes not sure how to respond. "I don't know what I would have done if..."

"Please," she whispers pinching her eyes shut and turning her face down away from his view. "Please. Just stop. I can't hear this right now."

She doesn't see the look of hurt that flashes across his face at her words, though not as rude as before are still very harsh. So unlike his Rachel. The Rachel that he's used to.

"I'm sorry," he tells her honestly. She waits for further comment and she glances at him to see the torn expression on his face. He wants to say more she can tell but she just gives a shake of her head.

"Thank you," she responds earnestly, laying her aching head back down. All she wants to do is sleep it all off and pretend this is all a crazy dream. Like in Wizard of Oz.

She doesn't even realize that Finn and Dr. Johnson are now discussing things about her once again as she drifts off to sleep. She really does need the rest.

* * *

It's about ten thirty in the morning the next day when she wakes up again. She hears soft voices once again but doesn't otherwise acknowledge them, thinking they belonged to Finn or Dr. Johnson. One who she seemed to have some sort of history with and the other one who just seemed to bring bad news with him. She didn't want to deal with them.

"She's right in here sir," Rachel heard Finn say to someone outside the room. "She's been sleeping for a while now. It was rough yesterday."

"So what's the doctor say then Finn?" A voice she recognizes in a second asks. It's her daddy. Immediately her eyes open to see that the two are still standing outside the door.

"Um well to be honest," Finn starts shakily. There's a pause before she hears him give a sigh and sees him run a hand through his already messy brown hair. "Not good Mr. Berry. I mean, Rach is perfectly healthy overall. The doctor was actually surprised about that considering the damage done to the car."

"That's good. I don't want our baby in any sort of pain," her daddy comments obviously relieved. "But what's the bad news?"

"The bad news is that she can't remember the last four years sir," Finn says dejectedly. "She thinks its back at the beginning of sophomore year. She has no idea about anything that has happened since then. And, um, she doesn't really remember me either."

"Oh Finn," she hears her daddy say and that's all he gets out before she can't take it anymore. She doesn't want to hear a conversation like that at all.

"Dad?" Rachel calls out, letting the two men know she's awake now. Not a second later her daddy comes walking in with tears in his eyes followed directly by Finn who closes the door behind himself. He doesn't come close to her but just watches from where he's at by the door standing awkwardly.

"Oh honey," her daddy LeRoy cries. He grabs her face between his hands and gives her a kiss on the head. "I am so sorry me and your father weren't here sooner. The weather has been just awful. Nothing was available on such short notice."

"It's okay," Rachel tells him honestly giving him a smile. The first real smile she thinks she's had since she got the news. She chances a glance at the boy by the door again. "Actually it seems Finn over there has been looking out for me the last few days. I don't know him, or remember him much." He winces at that. "But it was chivalrous nonetheless."

"Incredibly chivalrous," her dad agrees with a nod of his head giving Finn a small grateful smile. "Thank you son."

"No problem," he responded instantly to her dad before looking at her again.

She has no idea why she was suddenly paying Finn Hudson a compliment. She sort of did it without thinking. But the way Finn gives her a hopeful half smile makes her heart thud a little faster and she has to look away. What is with her?

"Anyways," Rachel says looking at her dad, "where's Papa at?"

"He was on the phone with the insurance company sweetheart," he informed her with a shrug of his shoulders. "He'll be in here in just a few. He wanted to get some things straightened out and make sure everything would be covered."

She smiled at that. Of course her Papa would be the one dealing with that stuff. Her daddy had no patience for it but Papa sure did. Some things just don't change.

She catches up with her dad a while longer and they're soon being joined by her other dad. They don't discuss much about her or her memory, but instead her dads tell her about the things that they've been up to. Like their recent visit to San Diego for a business trip or the upcoming cruise they are going on. She's grateful that they don't say anything about her memory because as it is she doesn't know much about it and she's not sure she wants to.

For goodness sake, who knew why Finn Hudson was even there. He stayed in the room most of the time as she caught up with her fathers. He didn't say much, he was watching a football game that was on tv, but every so often he'd ask her dad a question or make a comment to them. He never said anything directly to her though.

"So how much longer did Dr. Johnson say you had to be in here pumpkin?" Her dad asked looking around the room.

Rachel tried to think if the doctor had ever said but she couldn't remember being told that. She shook her, "I don't think he said."

"Finn do you know?" Her papa asked looking over his shoulder at the tall, young man currently lounging in one of the chairs.

The man in question nodded his head. "Yeah they said that they wanted to keep Rachel here for a few days just to keep an eye on her and run some more tests."

So she was right before. He had been talking about her with Dr. Johnson. She doesn't know why that irritates her but it does. It's probably the fact that she feels so useless and out of control. Rachel tries to keep the annoyed expression off her face but she's not sure it works out too great.

She's so caught up in her annoyance that she doesn't even realize that the conversation has gone on without her and the men are currently discussing her again. It's sort of annoying being talked about like she's not even there.

When she tunes back in, Rachel's eyes go wide with shock when she hears her father ask, "so what are the plans for living then? Is Rachel going to still stay with you Finn?"

"Excuse me?" She gasps out sharply. "I'm staying with him?!"

Rachel looks at Finn who suddenly looks like he wants the ground to open up underneath him and swallow him whole. She gives him a glare before she fixes it on her dads.

"Are you kidding me right now?" Rachel shouts incredulously.

"Honey we were just wondering what to do after you're dismissed from the hospital," Hiram tries to tell her but Rachel is having none of it.

Forehead creased in confusion and disbelief she says, "wouldn't I just live with you and daddy?"

She can't believe her dads would even suggest that she should live with Finn. She's only nineteen, although she feels much younger since she doesn't remember her forgotten years. But still. Nineteen? Isn't that a little young to live with some stranger, no less a boy?

"Honey," LeRoy says calmly trying to reassure her, "You've been living with Finn for about a year now. It'll be okay to stay with him."

"No it won't," she responds looking at her fathers like they both have grown another head. "I don't know him. Why can't I live with you?"

"Look I don't want Rachel to feel uncomfortable about this," Finn cuts in cautiously. "This is a lot for her to take in at once and I would hate to make it any worse."

"We understand both of your points," her dad said looking between the pair. "But the thing is we don't live in New York, you both do."

"So?" Rachel asked stubbornly after a beat of silence.

"Pumpkin, your life is here in New York right now. We aren't. We're still in Ohio."

"Why is that a problem though?" She asks again. She isn't getting what the big deal is. "Can't I just move back to Ohio?"

"And leave New York?" Her papa asked disbelievingly. "This is where you've always wanted to be though honey."

"Yes, but I don't remember getting here!" She shrieks frustratedly.

They're all taken aback a little by her outburst. Her dads are clearly stunned that their daughter even spoke to them like that but they were being highly unreasonable, in her opinion.

"Don't you get that I don't remember leaving?" She says to them. "New York to me right now isn't my home. My home is in Lima, Ohio. The small town, which I'm so grateful I learned that I got out of, but it's the place I belong. That I'm familiar with."

Her daddy sighs as he shares a look with her papa. They know she's right, she can see the light bulb finally go off in their heads.

What they say next though throws her off. "Rachel, sweetheart, we don't stay much in Lima though."

Upon her flabbergasted expression her dad explains. "Your father and I travel a lot more frequently than we use to Rachel. We aren't home very often for a length of time."

"We travel for business a lot honey, and it wasn't a problem now because you weren't at home. When you were still there we didn't want to leave you by yourself. But you moved to New York a year ago and there was really no reason for us to stay home as often anymore." Her papa added in.

"So what you're saying is it's better if I stay here?" She asks not comprehending a word being said.

"Only because we are rarely home anymore sweet pea," her dad replies.

Home. The one thing that had been constant in her life was that house in the middle of the little town in Ohio known as Lima. She had lived there ever since she was born and very little about it had ever changed. Now though, it was gone. Like everything else that she had once known.

"Please don't cry angel," her dad says as he envelopes her in a hug. She didn't realize she had started crying again but honestly she's just so frustrated by it all.

"I am so sorry honey," her other dad says as he combs his hand through her hair. He grabs a glass of water on the table in the room and hands it to her.

She takes a few sips from the glass and let's a few more tears fall as she tries to calm down. But it's hard when everything that use to be her life has changed. It's especially hard too when it seems she knows she's going to have to rely on a boy from high school.

When Rachel looks up from her glass of water again she's a little surprised to see that Finn isn't in the room anymore. He must have snuck out though when she started to cry again, leaving her with her dads. She kind of appreciates that.

* * *

It isn't till much later when she's in her room by herself with her eyes closed that she hears the door open and someone come in. Rachel isn't asleep due to her mind not shutting up and the headache that constantly come and goes, but she doesn't make that known to the person in the room with her.

Her dads left ages ago. They discussed everything with her more thoroughly and apologized profusely for all the things changing in her life at once. She tried to assure them that it would be fine after the initial shock wore off but she thinks they knew she was lying.

Her living situation was the same dreadful thing that it was before though no matter how hard she tried to change it. For some frustrating reason her dads would be leaving her with Finn to live with in New York.

They don't "live in Lima very often anymore" her dads had said earlier. She loved her dads, she truly did, but didn't they understand that she needed them and Lima at a time like this. Everything was so confusing as it was! And now she's supposed to pick up her life in New York?

Rachel let out an angry sigh as she tried to adjust herself in bed once again, moving onto her side, although it was proving difficult with all the wires that were connected to her.

A hand came up to rest on her arm and ran soothingly up and down it. There wasn't much pressure put on her arm but the hand ran delicately along the side of it, fingers leaving a tingling trail as they went. It actually felt really nice and Rachel let the person go on doing it a little longer as she felt herself slowly relax under their touch. When the person's hand went away and she could no longer feel it Rachel opened her eyes, not at all surprised by who it was.

"You do realize that this doesn't change anything," Rachel states quietly as she looks up at the tall man by her bedside. "I'm not happy about these circumstances at all."

"I know," Finn replies with a nod of his head as he sits down in the chair by the bed and sighs deeply. "Were you having trouble sleeping?"

"Wasn't it kind of obvious?" She asks in return. Rachel sits up just a little bit but keeps the blanket wrapped tightly around her because for some reason in the hospital rooms it feels like a freezer.

"Yeah," he says with a small smile before he looks at her apologetically. "Sorry if I bothered you. I didn't mean to but I figured that might help you relax a little bit."

Rachel gives a shrug as she looks away from him and toys with the blanket a little bit. "Was that something that normally relaxed me?" She asks offhandedly.

"Yes," he answers truthfully. "Whenever you're restless like that you usually toss and turn. I figured out one day that you seem to relax a little more when your arm is rubbed so... yeah."

"You must know a lot about me then huh?" Rachel asks a little louder than before.

He gave a small chuckle before she fixed him with a hard stare. "You shared a lot with me over the years," Finn replies after a moment. "And I shared a lot about me with you too."

Rachel sighs as she looks at Finn, really taking him in for the first time since she woke up. He definitely looks a lot older than she remembers. His brown hair still looks messily styled and he is still quite tall, but she can tell that there's a little more muscle on him now than she remembers before, and his face looks like it became more defined, losing some of the baby fat as he grew older.

She wonders for a second what she looks like because she hasn't even taken notice yet, too busy worrying about everything else.

"Is there a mirror in here somewhere?" Rachel asks, suddenly wanting to know what she looked like now.

"Huh?" Asked a confused Finn though he was already moving closer by her as he took his phone out his pocket.

"Is there a mirror?" She repeats again a little impatiently. Finn hands her his phone after he presses a few buttons and places it in her palm. "What's this?"

"It's an iPhone," he says, pointing to the cell phone in her hand. "It has a camera feature on it you can use to see yourself if you hold it up."

Sure enough when Rachel holds it up towards her face she's met with her reflection. Although it is one that is different than she last remembered.

"Oh my gosh," she gasps as she looks at herself. Gone was the long dark brown hair she had sported all those years ago and in its place was shorter brown hair that had a hint of highlights to it, not to mention the bangs she now had. Her face had seemed to slim down a little too. She looked quite tan though apparently it was the middle of fall and around her neck hanging loosely was simple gold star necklace.

"Different than what you remember?" Finn asks tentatively from beside her.

She tears her gaze away from the phone as she hands it back to him with a shake of her head. "Very different," she responds, "why did I change my hair?"

The question makes Finn laugh softly once again before he answers her. "I'm not sure. It was in the summer before junior year you got your bangs, and just a few weeks ago you got those highlights done," he responded with a shrug. "I think you said you liked to change it up every now and then."

"It's so weird," she muses as she combs through her hair now fully noticing how its shorter.

"You actually got mad at me when I didn't notice right away that you got your highlights done," he comments amusedly as he thinks back to the weeks before. "I was too busy watching a game on tv or something so I didn't look. And then you unplugged the television set."

She giggles softly at that just for a second before she sobers up. She lets the small smile stay on her face though as she watches him.

"I guess I could see myself doing something like that," she replies.

"It sucked ass," he says. "It took me forever to try and figure out how to get it to work again."

She laughs again a little louder at that. Rachel doesn't notice how Finn gazes at her softly as he smiles at her giggling form.

"I'm sorry," she finally says after a minute though the amused grin on her face would say otherwise.

"Don't worry about it," he says amused, happy that he is finally talking to the same Rachel as before she lost her memory of him. One that didn't seem to hate his guts.

The pair sits in a comfortable silence for a few moments, both caught up in their own thoughts. Rachel reaches up to her neck and holds the small gold star between her fingers as she looks at it.

"Where did this come from?" Rachel asks quietly, mostly to herself though she knows Finn will answer.

Sure enough he does. "I gave it to you actually," he says softly, his own eyes drifting to the small piece of jewelry around her neck.

She had kind of figured. Jewelry. Something a boyfriend gives a girlfriend. An uneasy feeling twists in her stomach when she thinks of them as a couple and she knows they need to talk about that more than anything. It's a matter if she has the courage to or not though.

"Look Finn I-" she starts to say before she's cut off by him, his hand coming up to hers and squeezing slightly before he pulls back.

"I think I know what you're going to say," he says calmly as he looks at anywhere but her face. "I realize that you don't remember me or us but its okay. We'll be okay."

She doesn't know whether he's telling her that or more like trying to convince himself of that but it doesn't matter.

"I don't like you like that," she blurts out quickly. She's a little stunned by her words, not sure where they came from, but she knew she couldn't take them back. "I don't get _us_, and I don't know _you_."

Finn's silent and his body is tense when he looks her straight in the eyes. She watches him, sees him looking for something in her and she notices his face start to look incredibly sad when he obviously can't find what he's looking for in her.

"Please don't say that Rach," he whispers brokenly. The hurt expression on his face really bothers something in her and she doesn't like that she was the one to put it there but she doesn't let that deter her.

"It's the truth Finn," she says more confidently than she feels. "You know me, but I don't know you, and I'm really sorry that I can't be what you need."

"You're already-". But she cuts him off.

"I need you to understand that you're basically a stranger to me," she says harsher than she intended, though she knows she has to get her point across. "In my memory when I think of Finn Hudson I think of the McKinley High School quarterback who egged me on my first day of school with all of his other friends. You made me feel awful."

"I'm sorry Rachel," he says ashamed and he seems to actually mean it. She decides its enough for now and will take pity on him. Besides, apparently it was years ago.

"I guess I have to forgive you for now, seeing as how I'll have to live with you in a few days," she concedes with a shake of her head. "But I'm sorry Finn, I can't be with someone I don't know."

When Finn looks at her again Rachel sees the smallest hint of tears in his eyes and he sniffles, wiping the back of his hand under his nose. He's trying not to let the tears fall, and his sadness sort of overwhelms her that she almost takes back every word she had said. However she knows she has to be strong. It's what's best for her.

A few tears slip down his cheek despite his best effort to keep them at bay and before she knows what she's doing Rachel leans forward. She cups his face with both her hands and wipes the tears away with her small fingers, giving him an apologetic look. Finn grabs one of her wrists delicately and, though she should object, she watches as he turns his face towards the palm of her hand and kisses it softly. The action sort of breaks her heart and makes it beat a little faster at the same time.

"It's okay," he whispers, giving her a small sad smile.

She watches as he gets up out of the chair rubbing a hand over his face and through his disheveled hair. She didn't mean to hurt him and she can't decipher the feeling she gets as she watches him move towards the door, leaving her by herself.

Just as he's about to go out the door though Finn stops in his tracks and looks back at her. Rachel wants to look away from his intense gaze but she can't as his eyes observe her once again. Instead she just stares back.

"I know you said that you don't want to be in a relationship right now Rachel," Finn says as he looks at her, " and I respect that. It's just-" he hesitates and she sees a look of determination cross his face when he continues on. "Don't expect me to just be okay with it."

"I know," she agrees, toying with her necklace nervously. The intensity of Finn's gaze doesn't waver and his confidence seems to grow with her response.

"Good," he says with nod of his head. "Because I'm not giving up on you and I'm not giving up on us so easily."

Rachel has no response to that as she watches him walk out the door and down the hallway. Her heart beats a little harder as she mulls over his last words again and again.

That was not the kind of response she was expecting. And she can't figure out if its a good thing or a bad thing.

* * *

**A/N: This was originally supposed to be two parts, but I realized the first part was just way too short. So it turned into this. Hope you all liked the start of it and we'll see how this goes. **

**Please Don't forget to comment! I appreciate all feedback and suggestions. Its kind of encouraging.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Do not own any of the characters from Glee, this is simply for fun! **

* * *

Her shoes squeak against the linoleum tiled floor of the hospital as she walks back to her room from her session with her new therapist. It's only been a few days but she's started talking with Dr. Morgan in order to help her adjust to this new abrupt development in her life. She supposes it's helped a little, even though she wanted to resist at first. Her dads had insisted that she give it a try seeing as how she wasn't really talking to them much. She was still incredibly angry with them for sort of abandoning her at this time but she tried not to hold a grudge against them. There was already too much to deal with.

She couldn't talk to Finn either because, well, it was Finn. Not much had changed between them the last few days ever since he told her he wasn't giving up on her and she tried not to dwell on her feelings about it. It just felt weird and confusing so she pushed it off as much as she could. So with no other option she had talked with Dr. Morgan the last few days about anything she wanted. There wasn't much to say though.

She hears the footsteps coming down the hallway before she even looks and when they stop she looks up to find Finn there. He notices her and approaches with a soft, cautious smile. She meets him halfway and they go in the direction she was already heading in silence.

"Hey," he says softly after a minute gaining her attention. "Are you okay?"

His concern makes her smile involuntarily and she knows he worries about her, even more so after her very first therapy session when she came back to her room in tears. She had been overly emotional that day she supposes but it was hard facing all of the things she was feeling at the time. Nonetheless every time she sees him now he seems to feel the need to ask how she is even though it's unnecessary.

"I'm okay," she answers with a shrug, pulling her arms in to hug herself. It was mostly in an act of comfort but she was also freezing in just her t-shirt and yoga pants. At least it was an upgrade from the hospital gown but it was also a reminder that she would be leaving to go "home" later on that day. To say she was nervous would be an understatement.

Finn, taking notice of the slight shiver that runs through her body, starts shrugging off his hoodie and quickly wraps it around her shoulders. She tries to ignore the beating of her heart at the simple gesture. "Thanks Finn."

"It's no big deal," he says easily. She figures being her boyfriend he use to do things like that for her before. Rachel plays off the thought as he continues talking. "So are you ready for today?"

Knowing exactly what he was talking about she glances down at the ground scuffing her shoes against the floor as she thinks. Yes, it would be great to get out of the hospital finally but...

"Can I be honest?" She asks which he responds to with a nod. "I'm nervous."

"Why are you nervous?" Finn asks as they reach her hospital room and enter finding the room already cleaned as if she had never been in there before. The only sign that it was hers was a pink suitcase, which Finn had brought to the hospital one day with a few of her personal things, that laid neatly on her bed.

"I don't know," she sighs loudly as she sat next to the suitcase. "I mean, for obvious reasons I guess, but I feel like once I leave here," she gives a shrug looking around the room that had been her sanctuary the last week or so, "it's going to feel too real. Does that make sense?"

She's looking at him now, meeting his intent gaze. She can tell he's trying to understand but he doesn't, not really anyway, and she thinks that's the most frustrating part. Nobody really gets it.

"It's just... I'm going to have to readjust to everything and everyone in my life again now. They'll remember me but I won't remember much of them. At least in the hospital I didn't know these people before so they didn't expect much from me. Out there it's going to be different."

Finn's eyes soften at her confession and she feels vulnerable all of a sudden. Her words had come out of no where really, and she had had no intention of revealing that much to him. There was just something comforting about him that she didn't even think twice about it. It was also the most that she had said to him in days.

"I'm just scared," she finishes brokenly the tears welling in her eyes once again. She wipes them away before they can fall, mustering up all the strength she has in her to hold them back.

"You don't need to be scared Rachel," he tells her softly. He takes a few steps before he's standing in front of her on the bed. He grabs her hand lightly, laces their fingers together, and waits until she looks up at him. "I promise you it'll be okay."

"How do you know that?" She whispers searching his eyes for any sort of doubt that it wouldn't be.

"I know because you're Rachel Berry, one of the strongest people I have ever met," he says confidently. Then adds hesitantly, "And you'll have me, you know, to be there for you if you need it."

She stares at him, studying him for a minute before she reacts to his words. She forgets for a moment about everything going on and just pulls him towards her. He may have been Finn Hudson, dumb jock quarterback, all those years ago but it was obvious he had changed at least a little during that time. She wraps her arms around his waist as she ducks her head into his strong chest. He doesn't respond at first, too caught off guard by her sudden hug, but when he does his arms wrap tightly around her frame making her feel so protected.

"I wasn't expecting that," Finn chuckles as he rests his cheek on her head. "You usually give warnings before you hug someone."

She smiles softly at that because it's true. That is something she has always done ever since she could remember.

"We should go soon I guess," she mumbles into his chest as she feels him give her head a light kiss. She pulls away then, knowing its not good to be so close to him. Not when he wanted more than she could give.

"Yeah," he responds just as quietly his arms falling to his sides before he grabs the handle of her suitcase and lifts it off and onto the ground. He's looking at anywhere but her.

The sight of him, this big, muscular guy, handling her bright pink suitcase brings her out of her melancholy mood as she gives a small laugh. Finn, who had been heading towards the door already, turns around and looks at her with a confused expression.

"What's so funny?" He asks his own smile forming at her infectious laughter.

"Oh, nothing, it's just," she giggles again at his adorable expression, "lets say the color pink suits you very well."

It takes a second for him to catch on, which only causes her to giggle further as she hops off the bed to join him by the door. When he realizes she's talking about the suitcase he's wheeling out of the room he laughs too. "Well thanks," he teases, "I think it goes great with my skin tone if I do say so myself."

"Sure it does," she laughs rolling her eyes. As she says this they walk out of the room Rachel closing the door behind herself to the room she had called home since she had woken up. Now it was time to leave and though it was nerve wracking she tried to stay positive. At least the banter with Finn was a good distraction.

* * *

She's dismissed from the hospital that afternoon and it's not long till she and Finn are on their way back to his place. She decided just to refer to it as 'his place' and not 'theirs' or 'hers' even though she technically does own part of it. She tells Finn this and he protests but she says that it'll probably help her adjust a little more.

"It'll be like I'm just staying at a friends house," Rachel tells him. "But you know a little more permanently than if I were just spending the night."

Finn gives her an incredulous look for the brief second that his eyes aren't on the road as he drives. "Rachel, the place is yours though. You actually moved into it before I ever did. Your dads helped you put the down payment on it."

"But I don't want it to be mine," she points out stubbornly. Putting on her most persuasive face she has she looks at him fully. "It'll feel too real then. Please just bear with me Finn. I need you to just do this for me."

As he glances at her again he catches sight of her face, lips pouted and eyes wide. She had him within seconds. She was just too cute.

"Okay it's fine," he relents willing to do anything to please her. "I should have known you were going to do _that_."

"Do what?" She asks confused.

"Pull that face of yours. You use it whenever you want something," he says amused sending her a wink.

She blushes lightly at the gesture, though she barely notices. "Oh," she whispers more worried it had lost its effect if she had used it so much.

"Don't worry it works every time," he says reading her correctly. "It's either that look or your fake crying that usually involves a tissue, and trust me that's just as effective."

"How do you know about that cry?" Rachel asks disbelievingly. She was an actress. She prided herself on giving such convincing performances and to find someone could see right through it was astonishing.

"Come on Rach," he comments rolling his eyes at her. "We've dated and been best friends for like the last four or five years. I've been around you enough to pick up on all sorts of things."

"You could not know that much about me to know all my faces," Rachel retorts annoyed at his matter of fact tone.

He laughs at that sending her a cheeky grin. "Please Rachel I've got them all down. You can't get anything past me anymore."

"You sound quite cocky there Hudson," she comments.

"Come on babe," Finn says, neither one noticing the term of endearment slip out. "It's not that hard to tell anymore when you're acting. You may be good but you're not good enough to fool me. I know you too well."

"Oh really? Well then let's put it to the test," she challenges, crossing her arms defiantly.

"Rach I'm trying to drive right now," he points out. "This isn't exactly the best time to do like twenty questions or whatever girly game you want to play."

"Oh please Finn," she scoffs looking quickly out the car window to see the thick traffic they were stuck in. She had no idea how far the place was but obviously the traffic was not going anywhere. "We have time. It's not like you're in a race right now. We're going at a snails pace."

"You never know," he defends lightly. "I don't want to get in any sort of accident or something if I have to take my eyes off the road. We could get in a crash at anytime."

At the mention of the word accident she tenses. He doesn't seem to notice his slip until he looks at her, and he starts to apologize profusely. Truthfully she had forgotten all about her accident till he said something about it. He had proven as such a good distraction before that she didn't have any sort of anxiety about being in the car again. Now that it was brought to the forefront though she became suddenly nervous.

"You're right," she says quickly cutting off his string of apologies. She starts to rub her hands together due to her anxiety. "You're right. It's best if you pay full attention to the road."

She sees a red truck trying to make his way into their lane and she gives an involuntary squeak of surprise as it goes right in front of them, cutting them off abruptly. "Look out!" She squeals her hands coming up to protect her just in case.

"Rachel, it's all right," Finn says reaching over to comfort her and ease her worry but she simply tells him to put both hands back on the wheel. "Rachel please calm down everything is fine. I'm sorry for mentioning the... thing, I said it without thinking."

"It was going to come up sooner or later wasn't it?" She argues sounding a little harsher than she meant to. He looks ashamed and even more apologetic so she pulls her hands away from her face and places them back in her lap. She keeps a vice grip on the seat belt though, glad it's snug and in place.

"I'm so sorry," Finn apologizes again. He looks concerned but she shakes her head at him.

"No it's fine," she says quickly trying to gain control of her emotions. Dr. Morgan had said it was best to come to terms with what happened before anything else. "I'm sorry. I freaked out, I'm okay."

He looks at her doubtfully and takes notice of her grip but doesn't say anything about it. "Stupid word vomit," he mumbles. Or that's what she thinks he said but she can't be sure since she's so preoccupied by watching the road carefully.

Finn's a good, safe driver she sees that but it's not necessarily him that she can just worry about. Everyone else around them is a factor. It's scary when she thinks about it.

"Please distract me," she demands frantically. Finn peaks at her from the corner of his eye to see her anxious expression and concedes quickly without question. He puts the radio on though the volume stays very low as it plays quietly. It's an oldies station that much Rachel can tell but she otherwise doesn't pay a whole lot of attention.

They drive silently for the next few minutes as Rachel goes through these breathing exercises Dr. Morgan recommended at one of the sessions. She never thought she would need to use them but now it seemed to make complete sense. She uses them to clear her head a little more and the nervousness slowly dissipates. It's not until a voice starts to sing softly along to the radio that a new sense of calm washes over her.

Rachel's attention is in seconds on Finn as he sings along quietly to the song playing. She recognizes it as REO Speedwagon's Can't Fight This Feeling. He gets a little louder as the song goes on and at the final moments of it he is belting it out with so much heart and so much passion that Rachel's captivated by it. She's pretty sure her mouth is hanging open in surprise at the rich, strong sound of his voice, never having known he could sing so well.

When the song ends and moves onto the next Finn finally looks at her for a second and smiles. He knows he impressed her and Rachel is still staring at him in complete surprise while simultaneously clapping her hands a little dazedly.

"Finn," she breathes out, "that was really good. I didn't know you could sing."

"Neither did I," he replies simply. "It's not as great as yours is..."

"Oh no don't discredit yourself that was amazing. You're very talented ," she insists quickly. "I mean I would know. I'm very talented too."

She notices something flicker across his face at her words but she doesn't dwell on it and neither does he apparently because he doesn't comment on it. "Well thank you Rach," he says. "That means a lot."

"Do you have a vast repertoire?" She asks curiously. The fact that he can sing intrigues her and she wants to know the extent of his ability.

He smirks at her words. "Not nearly as big as yours. I'm pretty sure you could sing anything and it would sound awesome," he answers. "But Glee really helped expand mine in high school."

Glee? She thinks surprised. As in glee club? The one in their high school that Mr. Ryerson coaches? Finn wouldn't have joined that would he?

She looks at him doubtfully, sure that he's playing her since he had to have known she was in glee club back then. "You? In Glee club?" She asks.

"Yeah, I know it doesn't seem like something I would be into, but when Mr. Schue started coaching it it was actually kind of cool," he says thoughtfully. "Although I did only join at first because he blackmailed me."

"Mr. Schuester coached glee?" She asks confusedly, ignoring his last comment about being blackmailed into it. "Last I remember it was Mr. Ryerson, you know, the creepy, bald man?"

Finn laughs at that, a memory suddenly coming to him of something Rachel once told him. "He was wasn't he?" He comments with a chuckle, then sending her a smirk he goes on, "you're the one that got that changed though."

"Me?" Rachel shakes her head annoyed because there were clearly things she couldn't remember about this. "What did I do?"

"I believe you told me one time that you went to Principal Figgins, used your fake cry," he looks at her pointedly at that, "convinced him Mr. Ryerson was being, um, 'inappropriate' I guess, and well that was that. He was out, and Mr. Schuester was in. He didn't want to see glee just go away so he decided he would direct it."

"I did that?" Rachel asks incredulously. "_I got Mr. Ryerson fired_?!" She knew she was intense about things like that, things like glee, but never would she have thought she would get someone fired.

"I don't think you meant to exactly, you just didn't want him to be in charge of glee anymore," he says with a shrug. "Actually I don't know the whole reason you did it. I don't know if you ever really said."

"Well he was giving the solos to all the wrong people," she says offhandedly. That much she does remember.

"You sound just like your old self," Finn remarks with a small sigh.

"I guess my love for solos never changed then," Rachel responds with a small smile but she's a little disarmed by his words. "What do you mean my old self?"

He's about to comment but stops, getting an intense look on his face. "Hold on a second," he says holding up a finger. He gives a sheepish smile at her questioning look. "I just don't want to screw it up and say the wrong thing here."

"Oh" is all she says and gives a shrug, patiently waiting.

"What I meant," he begins to say still thinking and choosing his words carefully. "Is that you sound like the Rachel before the incident. The one who, I mean, remembers stuff sure, but also who was always so carefree and, well, talkative."

She feels a bit ashamed at that. She's always known she talked a lot but...

"I missed talking to you Rachel," he continues seriously. "I don't like seeing you so sad and frustrated all the time. And it was like torture not talking to you over these last few days since I'm used to talking to you so much."

Rachel grimaces. She didn't mean to hurt him by not talking to him, she just didn't have anything to say. She didn't know what to say. He was still mostly a stranger to her. Although she supposes he has upgraded to acquaintance/roommate.

"I'm sorry," she sighs though she doesn't say more.

"Don't apologize, I understood why. It was just hard that's all," he replies. "And I know it's going to take awhile to be comfortable around me again."

She decides to leave it at that so she doesn't respond. The music continues to play around them in the silence and he starts to sing along softly again, having dropped the conversation. They didn't want to get too into that stuff right then.

So Rachel just listens to his nice voice. She occasionally hums along if she knows the song but otherwise doesn't sing. She wants to but something she's feeling is holding her back, she's not sure what though. When they finally get to the apartment she's almost disappointed to get out since he stops his singing. And she's more nervous now then ever. This is her new home.

* * *

"So how do you like it?" Finn asks her as he watches her look around in wonder at their apartment. He won't call it 'theirs' in front of her but he can still think it. "It's not much but it's enough for us. Plus it's not too expensive."

"It's really nice," she says out loud. Looking around she can definitely see where she's had some influence, with cat calendars and gold stars, and in other areas she can see his, the more manlier things she would have never put up. And that's just by the doorway entrance.

Finn watches Rachel look around mesmerized by her new surroundings, though they are all too familiar to him. "Would you like me to give you a tour?" He offers.

She turns to look at him with surprised eyes as she gives a nod. "If it's not too much trouble."

"It would be my pleasure," he responds with a smile. "It'll only take like two minutes anyway. It's not that big."

It's like the little shoebox apartment she always knew she would one day live in, she thinks.

They slip off their shoes and leave the suitcase by the front door and walk into the apartment which is actually quite a bit more open than Rachel expected. It's perfect.

"So that's the living room area," Finn says pointing to the front room that they enter into. It has a television and a decent collection of DVDs in a shelf next to it. There's a couch that actually looks quite comfy and a small coffee table in the middle. He leads her into the hallway, the only one they have apparently.

"This is the bathroom," he says. Waving his hand in front of him he smiles, "as you can see its pretty organized. My stuff is on one side and yours is on the other. It's kind of small so it's hard managing in the mornings sometimes."

"I'm assuming I'm the reason it's so organized," Rachel guesses with a knowing smile and Finn chuckles nodding his head in confirmation. "And I got you to go along with it so easily?"

"Have we not been over the fact that you could probably get me to go along with anything you want me to do Rach?" Finn counters pointedly with a grin. He turns away from her to head down to the end where the bedrooms are and she just smiles for a brief second at his retreating form.

She catches up with him quickly and stops outside of the main bedroom. Finn's standing there a little awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "Um, well, that room right there is the guest bedroom," he points out to one of the doors. "And, uh, this is our room," he tells her gesturing to the room in front of them and she's not sure what to do.

She feels awkward as she goes into the room that supposedly belongs to not only her but also him. She shares a room with Finn Hudson. Rachel looks at the decor with curious eyes and a racing mind. Of all the people she could live with she never imagined him.

It's a moderate sized bedroom. There's a fairly good sized closet and a large dresser, which she hesitantly opens looking in one of the drawers. And yes, sure enough, there are definitely things that belong to her in there. She knows because she sees a sweater adorned with a design of a bunch of small bows all over. There are also items in the drawer that clearly belong to a boy.

She closes the drawer rather quickly looking at the rest of the room. There's not much else but the room is painted a light beige color and the bedspread is dark blue. The bed itself is rather massive taking up a third of the room. It's obviously meant for two people.

"So what do you think?" Finn asks after awhile. "Of the room I mean."

She doesn't answer as she's still appraising it and at the moment she's looking at the few pictures that are sitting on the small bedside nightstand. One is of her and her fathers standing in the middle of Times Square, smiling widely for the camera, the excitement of being in the city clearly radiating off of them in waves. Another picture is of just Finn, clad in his football jersey, with the ball in his hands, looking quite seriously at the camera. It's from a few years ago that much she can tell because its sort of how she remembered him looking. Unlike now how he has changed so much.

The final picture when she looks at it captures her attention fully and she's not sure how it wasn't the first one she immediately looked at. It's of her and Finn. Rachel in the picture is sitting in his lap while Finn sits on a park bench. She has one of her arms draped around his shoulders, the other arms rests lightly in her lap, and she's smiling so widely, almost as if she were about to burst into laughter. Finn, on the other hand, has a hand resting on one of her bare knees just below the summer dress she was wearing at the time while his other arm is wrapped around her waist. Instead of looking at the camera though he's kissing Rachel square on the cheek either oblivious to the photo being taken or not caring at all. Both of them though look so incredibly happy like they wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

"That was taken over the summer," Finn tells her quietly, eyeing the same picture she's looking at and trying to gauge her reaction to it. She didn't even realize he was next to her till he spoke. "We went home to visit our parents for a weekend and they had a town barbecue at the park going on. I'm not sure who took that picture but..." He trails off giving a soft smile at it. "I really like it."

She's still looking at the picture silently. She's looking at them together and it's obvious that they loved each other. She's also intently looking at herself. The girl she doesn't remember being and whose memories were now gone apparently, possibly never coming back. She looked so happy, she thinks. Both of them did, and now... She doesn't even know what to do now.

Rachel takes one last look at the picture before she stands up and slowly walks out of the room. She's sure Finn is following her but she doesn't really look as she goes into the bathroom and locks the door behind her.

"Rachel," he calls softly outside the door but she doesn't answer. Instead she sits on the edge of the bathtub with her head in her hands.

The cries are silent at first, tears just trickling down her face as the sadness washes over her. Sadness for what she isn't sure. As minutes pass she finds herself choking back sobs and she can't stop herself from thinking about that picture. That car accident obviously took away so much from her. She's not even sure it's possible to get it all back.

"Rachel," Finn calls out softly behind the door. It's been a while since she went into the bathroom and he's kind of worried at this point. "Rachel please open the door."

She obliges but first looks at her reflection in the mirror. If she had been wearing any makeup it would be washed away completely, her eyes are puffy from crying, and there are faint tear tracks on her face. Rachel doesn't notice those things though. She just sees the older version of herself that she doesn't remember becoming.

Finn doesn't hesitate to pull her in for a hug when she finally comes out, but it actually makes her feel kind of weird. It's comforting but at the same time it just... isn't. He leads her out of the hall and back into the main area where she notices several other pictures are located but she avoids looking at them. Instead they walk into the small kitchen and the cozy feeling of it makes her feel just a bit better.

Finn pulls out a chair for her, which she sits in quietly, before he starts bustling around the kitchen, looking through the cabinets and cupboards. He's pulling out various objects and it's sort of intriguing to watch him as he concentrates on whatever it is he is making. She doesn't ask what he's doing, she just watches instead.

A few minutes later a cup of hot chocolate is sitting in front of her along with a small bag of miniature marshmallows to put in the drink. Rachel doesn't think about how this impacts her vegan diet, she's not even sure if she maintained it now that she's older, but instead she looks at Finn who sits down with his own cup.

He reaches across the table to gently squeeze her hand for a brief second, eyes locked solely on her, before he picks up his cup and starts to drink it quietly. Rachel does the same with hers, the warm drink easily calming her, and she thinks maybe Finn knew just what to do in order to make her feel better.

By the way he's giving a small satisfied smile to himself she would say he did. It seemed like he always knew what to do when it came to taking care of her. Finn Hudson was just something else.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you all like this! :) Love to hear feedback!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Do not own any of the characters from Glee. **

* * *

"So." He says looking to her curled up form on the couch.

"So." She says back.

They're sitting on the same couch but on opposite ends and the space between them is kind of awkward. He doesn't dare move closer to her though because he knows she won't want him to. She already scooted as far away as she possibly could when they had woken up.

They had been watching Rachel's favorite movie, Funny Girl, because if there was anything that could help brighten her mood it would be Barbra Streisand. She was surprised when she had looked through the movies, upon his request that she pick something for them to watch, and she had found it. It was among the section deemed "favorites" and she couldn't quite believe it until she remembered that this was once (or still is?) her place too.

Anyway they had sat on the couch together, after having dinner, and as they watched the movie somewhere along the way both of them had fallen asleep. The credits had already been played and the screen was black when Finn had woken up. He had looked around confusedly trying to move though found he couldn't because something was curled against his side and laid partly on his chest. When he came to his senses he looked to see that it was Rachel and for a moment it was like nothing had changed.

She was his Rachel once again, snuggled comfortably into his side and sound asleep, one of her tiny hands lying across his stomach. And he could have moved her, of course. Except he didn't want to. She had been so close yet so distant the last few days that he just simply missed her.

How it was possible to miss someone when they were right beside you was beyond him.

So he had let her sleep, noticing that it was only ten thirty, and not really believing that they had both passed out so early. It shouldn't have been such a surprise though. It was always so easy to relax when they were around each other. He watched her sleep peacefully for a moment, wishing that somehow she could remember them again. Although as long as she was with him now he couldn't complain too much.

However it didn't change the fact that it hurt to see her look at him with those cautious, unfamiliar eyes. Those eyes that used to look so adoringly at him and that used to be filled with so much love... Well now they were gone. And they didn't hold that same emotion anymore. He would know. He'd tried so many times over the last couple days to search her face for any sign of it.

When she had started to move slightly beside him slowly waking up he couldn't help but look at her. He should have felt bad about having her so close to him but instead he found himself feeling a little hope when she had looked up at him with dazed eyes and gave him a lazy smile, like she had done dozens of times before. However, instead of snuggling back into him or giving him a soft kiss like she used to do, Rachel's eyes blinked shut before they suddenly opened becoming very alert to where she was and how she was practically laying on him. She jolted away from him as if she was burned by his touch and she put as much distance as she could between them on the couch. The minute she was gone from his side he immediately missed her.

"Finn," she says bringing the man out of his silent thoughts, "I think I'm going to, um, get ready for bed."

She looks uncomfortable and a little hesitant and he's not really sure why till she asks, "where am I supposed to sleep?"

He blanks for a minute. Crap. Why didn't he think of that earlier? Surely she wouldn't want to share a room, much less a bed with him. How were they going to do this?

Thinking quickly he realizes, "I can sleep in the guest room! You can sleep in our room."

She gives a small grimace at hearing him saying 'our room' but otherwise doesn't say anything. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" She asks instead.

"What? Sleeping in separate rooms?" He asks confusedly. He doesn't really understand what the problem is. "I mean we could sleep in the bedroom together if you want..."

"No!" Rachel exclaims eyes wide in shock at his words. "No. I meant, um, me staying in the bedroom. Are you sure you don't want to sleep in there instead?"

"It doesn't matter to me," he replies with a shrug, "why? You don't want to?"

"It's just," she pauses worrying her bottom lip thoughtfully, "that... uh, picture. You know the one of us..."

And he realizes what she means even if she just trails off. She doesn't want to see that picture of them again. The one from over summer. The one that she looked at this afternoon and had cried about. She wants to avoid it if possible. For some reason that hurts worse than anything else he's felt.

"Oh," he mumbles, fumbling with his hands and trying to avoid her questioning gaze. "Um, I can take it out of there... The picture, I mean... I can take it out and put it somewhere else if you want..."

After a moment of thought she says, "no. That's where it belongs right?"

He smiles at that because yeah, it kind of does belong there. His Rachel, when she had seen it, had absolutely loved the picture and immediately printed it out. She even bought a frame specifically for it. When she had decided to put it on the night table next to the bed at the time he had asked why.

_"Because it's the perfect spot," she had said simply. "It's a perfect picture so it deserves to be put somewhere special. Since it's right here I can see it everyday and be reminded of just how much I love you."_

_She had turned to him then and hugged him tightly around his waist smiling widely at him before kissing him softly. "Not that I would ever need any reminding anyway."_

If only that could work now, he thought sadly. "You're right," he answers with a small grin. "It does belong there."

"Okay," she sighs and then proposes, "how about you stay in that room and I'll just stay in the guest room?"

"Are you sure?" Finn asks again to which she gives a firm nod. "Okay."

"I'm going to leave my clothes and accessories in that room though," she says already moving to get ready for bed. "I don't want to have to move everything to the other room."

"That's fine with me," he responds with a shrug and following her down the hall.

When they're finally done with their individual nightly routines they're left standing there in the hall awkwardly. At the hospital it wasn't like this but Rachel supposes that was a little different. It's not like she could go anywhere and he needed (more like wanted) to be there just in case she had needed him. Now though it would be the first time they were going to sleep without the company of one another.

"Well I guess this is good night then," she says lightly, leaning against the door frame of the guest room. It's almost like the other room except there is a dark green comforter and cream colored walls.

"Okay," he responds sending her his signature half smile. "Good night Rach."

His smile leaves her stunned into silence for a moment, her chest completely consumed with butterflies. She barely notices that he hesitates to go but then he's moving into his room closing his door as she watches. When did Finn Hudson ever start flashing her that infamous smile, she wonders dazedly. She remembers seeing him doing it multiple times over the years of school that they had together but it had never been towards her. She remembers she had always been slightly jealous in middle school of those girls who were on the receiving end of it. Even in freshman year of high school she had those innocent feelings for him that is until she saw that he had joined the football team, and with his best friend Noah Puckerman, started to pick on others of lower social status. After that started she had decided to forget about him as best as she could. The only other time that she paid attention to him was when they happened to pass by one another in the hallway at school, which was a very rare occurrence. Also sometimes if the football players were picking on her she would notice him there too, standing at the back silently watching. He wasn't with them too often when they would pick on her though.

For the first time, she finds herself genuinely wondering just when things changed between them. Were they friends first? What about Quinn Fabray? What made him decide to be with her instead of the head cheerleader? What made them fall in love? Was it glee? She always knew music was such a powerful, expressive tool, but never in her life could she have anticipated this coming from it.

As she's contemplating her thoughts, still standing against her door frame minutes later, Finn's door swings open suddenly and he's stepping out already stepping her way like he was coming to tell her something. He stops abruptly when he sees her still standing there.

"Oh," he says surprised. "Rachel, are you okay?"

"Yeah," she says quickly coming out of her thoughts, blushing slightly though it's way too dark for him to see even if the light in her room is still on. "Sorry. Just thinking."

"Oh, okay."

"Good night Finn," she says stepping into her room as he watches her. And then he's giving her that damn smile again.

"If you need anything at all you know you can come to me," he tells her. "Don't hesitate."

"I know," she smiles softly. "Good night."

* * *

Rachel's restless in bed all night. She tosses and turns probably a hundred times just trying to get comfortable but she can't. It's not that the bed is uncomfortable because actually it's probably one of the softest beds she's ever slept in before. She just can't seem to relax. At about whatever time it is in the morning she remembers what Finn did in the hospital to calm her and she tries to see if that'll help if she does it to herself. Unfortunately it doesn't. She thinks offhandedly that maybe if Finn was the one to do it she would actually fall asleep, but she immediately disregards that. She knows she can't wake him and ask him to do that. Not when she's just getting used to him.

It takes her what seems like hours to even get a wink of sleep though and before she knows it the sun is just starting to peak through the windows of the room. Normally Rachel would be one to spring out of bed at the crack of dawn in order to get a head start on her day but instead she's waking up hours later. The smell of pancakes and eggs is in the air when she trudges into the kitchen in the morning and she's met with the sight of Finn expertly moving around the room cooking up breakfast. She notices that he's in his pajamas still too and the atmosphere feels very... familiar and nice.

"Hey there sleepy," Finn greets her brightly when he catches sight of her. "Breakfast is almost ready. I hope you don't mind, I made my specialty."

"Specialty?" She asks lightly, his bright mood infectious to her. "I wasn't aware I was roommates now with an expert chef."

"Well it's true, you are," he smiles easily. "Just call me Chef Hudson ma'am."

Taking her seat at the table she continues to watch him in fascination. "So what is your specialty Chef Hudson?" She asks curiously. "Or should I say specialties?"

"Mainly breakfast foods," he answers stacking some pancakes onto one plate and putting the scrambled eggs onto another. "For today the specialty is pancakes and eggs." She notices that there doesn't seem to be that much eggs made so she's not sure if they are all for him or if they're sharing.

"I do make a mean grilled cheese sandwich though," he comments. "I've been told that it could win an award."

"Who told you that?" She asks.

"My mom," he replies to which she laughs at. "Except I'm pretty sure she was trying to trick me into cooking more at home so she wouldn't have to. So I don't know if she was telling me the truth."

"Have I ever tried it?" Rachel asks picking at the pancake that he's put onto her own plate. She takes a bite and gives a hum of appreciation. "This is really good."

"Yeah. That's actually one of the only things that we ate for awhile when we moved here," Finn says answering her question and taking a bite of his own food. "It was cheap and easy to make."

"We just ate grilled cheese?" She frowns thoughtfully. She eyes the eggs again that are now set on the table in the middle.

"No there was other stuff like soups and fruit and vegetables," he responds. "When we settled in more and I got a job we were able to buy more."

"You have a job?" She remembers how he had stayed with her at the hospital almost 24/7. "Weren't you with me the entire time I was at the hospital though?"

"I was with you the entire time," he confirms with a smile. "Luckily I work at this awesome record store down the street and the boss likes me. Not to mention that he adores you, so when I found out about you he let me take as much time as I needed to be there."

"He was just okay with that?" Rachel asks doubtfully.

"For the most part," he says shoveling a scoop of eggs onto his plate as well as another pancake. "I got a few people to cover for me too."

"Oh," she says. "That must be nice."

"What?" He notices her picking at her food little by little and sort of just moving it around her plate. "What's nice?"

"Having friends like that," she responds quietly and almost bitterly. Of course Finn would have people who were willing to do whatever he needed them to. Here and in Lima he seemed to always be liked. "People just naturally like you don't they?"

"Um, I don't know," he says confusedly, sensing he's suddenly treading on thin ice. He doesn't like the way she's frowning deeply. "Rachel-"

"Did I have any friends?" She asks suddenly eyes looking directly at him. "I mean no one came to visit me in the hospital except my dads and you. And I know I was one of the biggest targets at school for slushies but I would have thought somebody would have been my friend soon enough."

She has her big brown eyes focused fully on him and he notices the desperate look in her eye. How could she think that people wouldn't want to be her friend, he thinks, but he reassures her. She does only remember back to sophomore year after all...

"Of course you had friends Rach," he says quickly. "We have most of the same friends still actually. They're from glee club."

"Glee?" She asks. That club has come up the past two days in their conversations, she thinks. It seems like glee changed her in a lot of ways then.

"Yeah," he says. "Glee club was the best and even though everybody, like, either hated or just ignored each other at first we really became a family over the years."

She ponders over this for a minute letting the news sink in. She had real, true friends, and she can't remember one of them. But then she thinks, "why didn't they come to visit me then when I was hospitalized? Did they have any concern over my well being?"

"That's my fault actually," he admits. "After you woke up and there were... Complications with your memory I, um, didn't think you'd want to be bombarded with other people you didn't really know."

She frowns at this. "They wanted to come see you but I told them to hold off. At least for the time being. I thought it would help to have you adjust to all this", he gestures to himself as well as the apartment, "and see where it goes from there."

"I see," she says mulling over his words. She wanted to know who these friends of hers were because for as long as she could remember she had always been on her own. An ambitious girl, whose talent seemed to intimidate just about everyone. These friends were apparently as close as family though and while she wanted to know them, for some reason she found she also didn't. She felt torn. "I guess that makes sense."

She's still frowning and looks slightly troubled, but over what Finn's not sure. "Is something wrong Rach?"

She doesn't answer right away because there's something bothering her. Something that seems to be just out of reach and that's itching to be released. She has no idea what. The eggs on his plate catch her eye again. And then a sudden burst of pain shoots through her head.

_"Mr. Schue, Rachel's one of us," she hears a shrill voice say. "We're the only ones who get to humiliate her!"_

What the hell?

The pain that came out of nowhere is now throbbing in her head and it's all she can really focus on. She winces, a hand coming up and rubbing her temple, and Finn takes notice immediately.

"Rachel, are you okay?" He asks worriedly.

It takes another second to answer and then she's nodding yes even though she really feels like crap. It felt like someone just knocked her upside the head really hard. Finn knows she's lying too.

"You're such a liar," he mumbles as he gets up quickly to go to the kitchen. He's gone for about thirty seconds before he returns, two pain pills in one hand and a cup of water in the other. "Here take these."

She does as he says, taking the medication gratefully and gulping down the two tablets. "Thanks," she tells him.

"It's no problem," he says easily though he looks concerned still. "You want to tell me what happened?"

She tries to figure out and put into words what just occurred but she's confused herself and her headache now isn't helping. "I don't even know to be honest with you."

She stands up then to clear her plate and as she goes she can feel his eyes on her, watching her carefully. It makes her feel quite self conscious, and Rachel Berry has never felt that way. At least not in the way that every move she made was being examined.

"I'm, um," she starts to say anxious to get away. "I'm just going to go get ready for the day I guess." She doesn't even wait for a reply as she quickly escapes his company, suddenly feeling overwhelmed.

She doesn't even come out for the next few hours.

* * *

When she emerges from her room later on in the afternoon a loud, booming noise startles her. She jumps with wide eyes and when another rather alarming sound is heard she panics. What is going on? She moves quickly albeit quietly down the hallway to the source of where the noise is coming from.

"Damn it!" Finn yells as she peaks around the corner of the hallway. His outburst startles her again and it's when she sees him throw his controller towards the ground that she realizes it's a video game he's playing. She didn't even know they had those here. It figures though. Finn is a boy after all.

She watches him from her spot in the hallway, his back is toward her as he sits on the couch so she knows he doesn't know she's watching or listening to him. It's kind of amusing too. Rachel watches as he picks up his game controller again. He lets out a frustrated sigh and then there are more explosions and loud noises going on. Whatever video game this is it's really violent. And also really loud.

Rachel tries to follow along and figure out what exactly Finn is trying to do but it's clear that she has no idea and probably never will know what the point of it all is. Just as he's getting killed yet again, or at least she thinks that's what happened, Rachel is about to let him know she's there when his phone rings.

The piercing sound of it makes her head ache just a little like it had been hurting earlier though the worst of it is pretty much gone. The medication did wonders for her headache and with a little rest she was able to get it to go almost fully away. She still doesn't understand where it came from, but she assumed it was one of those things still present from her accident.

What a lovely reminder, she thinks. Nothing like a horrible headache to remind her of something she wants to forget all about.

Finn pauses his game mid-action and he grabs his phone to answer it. Whoever it is he gives a heavy sigh as he looks at the caller ID before he answers and her interest is piqued. She shouldn't be spying she knows but she's simply curious.

"Hey," he says into the phone. "What's up?"

He listens for the answer before he responds. "She's doing good man. And I mean we just got home yesterday from the hospital but everything is okay at the moment."

She wonders who it is that's calling to check up on her. Her heart warms at the sentiment. "Yeah, Rach seems to be taking in everything just fine. Well, you know as best as she can. I know she wasn't too thrilled about living with me when she found out she couldn't be with her dads."

She smiles a little at that. The way Finn said it was probably the biggest understatement of the year. She hadn't been just not thrilled she had been shocked and furious. Finn gives a scoff into the phone as he leans back into the cushions unconsciously running a hand through his thick hair. "Shut up man I don't need your insults or jokes." Rachel worries for an irrational second that whoever it is on the phone has upset him but his laugh reassures her that he's fine.

But why does she care if Finn's upset or not, she wonders. Well, they were sort of friends now she supposes but it hasn't been that way for a long period of time. Wait, are they friends now? She shakes away the all too confusing thoughts.

The person on the phone must be giving Finn a long speech because its for a minute or so that he's silent, intently listening. He makes a noise every few seconds to assure the person that he's listening and he adds in a sigh or a small "yeah" from time to time. As she is just giving up on listening, because its obvious she won't get much out of the conversation since it appears to be mainly one-sided, he starts to talk again.

"I don't know if that's a good idea yet," he says slowly. "Rachel is just getting used to having me around I think. I mean, she's still really distant at times but she's friendlier than when she first woke up. I don't want to jeopardize anything by having you all come in and ambush her with things and faces she can't remember, you know?"

A frown forms on her face at his words, a feeling of hurt coming over her. She doesn't like how it sounds like she's broken. Sure, a few memories were lost but she was still Rachel Berry.

"Dude, I know. You all want to come see her and I promise that you can as soon as she's ready okay?" He sighs. "I'm protecting her and I'm protecting you guys alright? Look, if you guys come see her most likely she won't remember you or she'll treat you like she did four years ago. And I'm telling you right now man, it hurts like hell when she looks at you with no idea who you are."

He's silent again before she hears a soft sniffle. "I'm just trying to spare someone else the heartache I'm feeling right now," he mumbles into the phone just loud enough for her to hear. "It's been tough having to, you know, be strong for her and try to keep myself in check when all I wanna do is kiss her and pretend this was all a horrible dream."

Each word she hears breaks her heart a little more and she feels guilt start to consume her. How can she feel so awful about not being with him when at the moment she hardly knows him? Finn's a decent guy but that doesn't mean she can trust him just like that and dive head first into a relationship. She doesn't love him like her other self did.

Other self? Yeah, it describes how she feels perfectly. Like someone took over her life the last four years and did all of these things without her permission. It's very annoying.

So why does she feel so bad? Finn is obviously hurting over this and she's sure it's not an easy thing to cope with but... It's just all too much. She feels too many things and she can't decipher what is currently the most dominant feeling at the moment. It starts to make her head ache just ever so slightly thinking about it all too much.

She starts to hear Finn say his goodbyes to whoever is on the phone so before he notices she hurries down the hall as quietly as she can back into her room. It's just minutes later that he's knocking on her door to see how she's doing.

"I'm feeling better now," she answers with a small shrug. "Whatever you gave me before worked like magic."

He gives a nod to her and she can tell he's still a little troubled from the call despite his best attempt at seeming like he's holding up just fine. "Are you okay?" She asks quietly.

"Yeah I'm okay," he replies with an attempted smile though it doesn't light up his face like his smile usually does.

She gives him a doubtful look which he blatantly ignores. "I actually have to go and, uh, run some errands and, um, stop by work for a little to talk with my boss," he tells her changing the subject.

"Oh," she says with downcast eyes. She's being left alone already? That was unexpected. She would have thought Finn would want to stay with her as much as possible.

"I don't know how long I'll be," Finn adds with an apologetic look. "I promise I'll try to be quick though."

As he walks away from her and out of the room Rachel's shoulders slump. What was she going to do while he was gone? She didn't want to be alone.

"Wait!" She calls out as she quickly runs into the other bedroom. She grabs the first jacket that she sees and slips it on. "Finn wait for me!"

He's already at the door slipping on his shoes but he pauses when he hears her shouts. He gives her a puzzled look as she comes rushing in the room. "Rach, you want to come with me? Don't you want to rest some more?"

She knows she should probably rest and take it easy but she shakes her head. "No. I'll be bored by myself. Can I come with you?"

"You want to hang out with me?" He asks confusedly. "It's not going to be that exciting."

She smiles at the warning but otherwise just shrugs. "That's okay. I just want to go with you."

Finn smiles at that and finishes tying his shoes and putting on a beanie on his head. He gives her a once over which makes her blush slightly. His gaze shouldn't make her feel all warm inside but for some reason it does.

"Okay. Well you should probably put on some warmer clothes. Everything's pretty close by so we're walking and it's pretty cold out still even if its not snowing right now," he says once again his eyes staring at her form. He smirks before he adds, "I do like you in that jacket though. My stuff looks good on you."

Her cheeks heat up even more as she looks down. The jacket she put on before is a simple dark red and white hoodie and it's quite large on her. It's really soft though. It smells really good too. Obviously it's his.

"Thanks," she says shyly. She then turns quickly and hurries to their room to grab some warmer clothes.

When she comes back out a few minutes later she's putting a pair of gloves on that match with a scarf that she found. She's all bundled up and Finn smiles at her. And she knows what that classic half smile of his is for this time.

"What?" She says simply as she tugs his jacket along with her peacoat closer to her. "Your jacket happens to be very comfortable."

"Well you know," he teases as he closes the door behind them and looks it. "I try."

"Don't be surprised if you don't get it back," she says truthfully. She flashes him a wide smile when he sighs. It's all in good nature though.

"Who knew Rachel Berry was a thief?" Finn says with a chuckle.

All he gets in return is a light slap on his arm followed by a small giggle from the girl. That itself makes him smile even more.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks everyone for the support on this! You all inspire me.**


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